Types Of Performance Appraisals

7 January, 2009

While the performance appraisal process isn’t exactly a favourite amongst managers, it is helpful to know that there are several different types of performance appraisal strategies to choose from. Knowing there are options available should give you the flexibility to find the right type of appraisal method for each department or even specific employee within your organisation. Here are a few different types of appraisal methods:

The 360-Degree Appraisal – This method of appraisal involves allowing other employees to fill out a questionnaire detailing their experiences with a specific employee. The feedback of peers can be reviewed by the manager and considered during the appraisal.

General Performance Appraisal – This appraisal method involves ongoing communication between the manager and employee throughout the entire year. At the end of the year you’ll determine whether the pre-set goals and objectives were met, provide feedback, and set new goals.

Technological/Administrative Performance Appraisal – The technological or administrative performance appraisal focuses more on technical skill than anything else because these employees have specialized tasks. They’re judged on specific skills, the amount of work they produce/complete, and a variety of other tasks.

Manager Performance Appraisal – Managers must go through the appraisal process as well. This type of appraisal usually covers both job skill as well as human resource skill, as most managers usually have clients to keep happy as well as a team to keep organised. Most often a manager appraisal will include feedback from team members, usually obtained anonymously.

Employee Self-Assessment – This type of appraisal is one of the most dreaded by employees as no one seems to enjoy rating themselves. Most often the self-assessment is compared to an assessment completed by the manager and then discussion regarding the differences follows.

Project Evaluation Review – A project evaluation review is a great project management tool. Instead of waiting until the end of the year an employee or team is reviewed at the end of each project. This gives them the tools necessary to make adjustments for the next project.

Sales Performance Appraisal – Sales performance appraisals are often the easiest to conduct but the most painful. A salesperson is simply judged on his results versus his set goals and salesmen are often held to their financial goals more than any other section of the organisation. A manager and salesperson must discuss ways to achieve their goals or changes that need to be made to make them reachable yet still realistic.

There are a myriad of different appraisal types and we’ll go over each in more detail in the future. Simply walk away today with the understanding that there is no “out of the box” appraisal process you can apply to every member of your organisation. They’re all individuals and have to be appraised as such as well!

Before I sign off, here are some more articles on managing performance:

Mark Williams

Mark Williams is a learning and development professional, using business psychology and multiple intelligences to create fascinating and quickly-identifiable learning initiatives in the real-world business setting. Mark’s role at MTD is to ensure that our training is leading edge, and works closely with our trainers to develop the best learning experiences for all people on learning programmes. Mark designs and delivers training programmes for businesses both small and large and strives to ensure that MTD’s clients are receiving the very best training, support and services that will really make a difference to their business.